The City of the Future - The new art of

governance for cities and regions

Valencia, 28 and 29 November 2005
Biographies
Sophie Fosker
Thematic Pools Co-ordinator. Community Network for Manchester.
She works for the Community Network for Manchester which is designed to empower community
and voluntary groups to get involved with decision making in the city of Manchester. They work
particulary to engage with groups vulnerable to exclusion, and work to support engagement with
Manchester City Council and a number of other public agencies. Her particular role is to engage
groups in the seven different themes of the Manchester Partnership (Sustainable Neighbourhoods,
Health, Children and Young People, Crime and Disorder, Economy and Employment, Culture and
Transport).

Mara Gonzlez
Development Manager, Manchester Enterprises, Ltd.
To ensure that existing and future European strategy and policy is embedded within the
Manchester Enterprises Group and that new sources of funding are identified to help the ME Group
achieve its service delivery priorities.

Kevin Heaney
Policy and Research Officer. Belfast City Council Development Department.
He is responsible for policy formulation and evaluation; development and delivery of the
Departmental Strategy and business plans; rigorous economic and demographic analysis;
instigate, manage and co-ordinate research projects.

Paul Hildreth
Advisor, City and Urban Policy. Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
He is an independent advisor on cities and urban economies. He is currently working for the
ODPM on cities policy and leading their workstream on city-regions. Previously he was a member
of the joint ODPM/HM Treasury and Department of Trade & Industry regional economic
performance team and led the ODPMs work with the English Core Cities (Birmingham, Bristol,
Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham and Sheffield). Before coming into the ODPM, Paul led
the economic development, regeneration and community leadership roles for Croydon Council.
Paul is also Visiting Fellow at SURF (Centre for Sustainbale Urban and Regional Futures) at Salford
University in urban and regional policy.

Zubeda Limbada
Regional Affairs Support Officer. Birmingham City Council.
Support the Strategic adviser on city-regions agenda currently being pursued by the 8 UK core
cities-support in governance, housing, transport and sport and culture.

The United Kingdoms international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.

Neil McInroy
Director, Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES)
Neil McInroy has been the Director of the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES), since
December 2002. Whilst having experience in a range of issues relating to urban and social policy,
his particular interests are in the cultural life of cities, urban regeneration, local economic
development and poverty.
As CLES Director Neil is responsible for the services and products relating to CLES subscribers and
the wider network. In particular, this involves the day-to-day and strategic management of the
Information Service, events and policy programme.

Dr. Paul Orders

Head of Policy and Economic Development, Cardiff County Council.
Head of Function Policy and Economic Development.

Adrian Randall
Lead Officer, Asylum Seekers and Refugees, Birmingham City Council.
He manages service providing accommodation and support to asylum seekers; refugee Resource
Centre providing admin to individual refugees and support/training/facilities for Refugee
Community Organisation; Service providing intense support to new refugees given tenancies to
help ensure these are sustainable and assist refugee/family with access to services. He is also
responsible across City Council for developing action to support integration of refugees.

Emily Robinson
Research and Publications Officer. New Politics Network.
She is responsible for the Networks research programme and for producing its publications. Most
recently, she co-authored a study of the 2005 General Election campaign. Until May 2004 she
worked as a researcher at the New Local Government Network, where she specialised in centralregional-local relations, local leadership and the design of public places. She has also written
about the creation of active communities for the Institute for Public Policy Research and the Home
Office.

Prof. Ivor Samuels

Associate Consultant, Urban Renassance Institute.
An architect planner with experience in the public and private sectors in the UK and abroad
Formerly Chair of the Joint Centre for Urban Design at Oxford Brookes University he is an
Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Urban Morphology Research Group at Birmingham
University, Associate of the Urban Renaissance Institute at Greenwich University, Honorary
professor of the national University of Peru.. He has been a visiting professor at Universities in
Denmark, France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland, Chile , Brazil, Peru, Mexico, the US and Australia.
He is a consultant to the Civic Trust Regeneration Unit on Town Centre Masterplans. Latin
American consultancy includes work in Cartagena and Armenia, Colombia, and Guatemala, in
Spain with Taller de Ideas plans for the Alicante/Elche area, an Innovation Park on Majorca and he
has coordinated EU funded Urban Waterfront Regeneration Projects in, Honfleur, St Malo,
Cartagena, Palma, Santander, San Sebastian and Alicante. French work includes a study of
urban morphology for the French Ministry of the Environment and several urban plans intended
to achieve local distinctiveness which were awarded a Grand Prix dInnovation. He drafted the
first Urban Design Group manifesto and his English version of a French text (Urban forms: the
death and life of the urban block) published by Architectural Press (June 2004),
He has recently published What homebuyers want for Commission for architecture and the built
environment (CABE). Current work includes evaluating new housing schemes for Building for Life
Awards, a Design Guide for South London Boroughs, a review of consumer needs for the Housing

Page2 of 3

Forum, evaluating Enquiry by Design projects for SEEDA and consulting on Masterplans in
Wolverhampton and Thames Gateway with PRP architects. He is a member of the Design Review
Panel for the East Midlands

Michael Stanley
Project Manager, Belfast City Council Development Department.
He is responsible fro the management and delivery of Belfast City Council capital works projects
from inception to completion.

Councillor Mark Stephens

Executive Member for Economic Development & Finance; The County Council of the City and
County of Cardiff.
Executive member responsible for economic development and finance.

Prof. Robert Sweeting

Head of Centre for Professional Accounting, Head of Accounting and Finance Division. Manchester
Metropolitan University Business School.
Higher education institutions: strategic economic development. The Knowledge society and
regional stewardship.

Natalie Tarry
Research Manager, New Local Government Network.
Natalie Tarry is Research Manager at NLGN, with responsibility for working on many aspects of
NLGNs work programme including innovation, partnership working and user-choice in public
services. Natalie joined NLGN in January 2002, having worked at the European Parliament in
Brussels in the office of a German MEP and at a Consultancy/Economic Research Institute in
Frankfurt.
Natalie's NLGN publications include 'Crossing Boundaries: new ways of working' (with Iain
Roxburgh) (NLGN, 2003); 'Choice: what role can it play in helping local services evolve?' (with Dan
Corry, Warren Hatter, Julian Le Grand and Adam Lent) (NLGN, 2003); 'Improvement and the Use of
Local Public Service Agreements - Lessons from Kent and Middlesbrough' (with Teresa Payne and
Anna Randle) (NLGN, 2003); 'Making Choices: how can choice improve local public services? (with
Adam Lent) (NLGN, 2004); 'Vitality through locality - Lessons from Suffolk and Lewisham' (with
Anna Randle and Kamal Panchal) (NLGN, 2004); and 'New Ways to Modernise' (NLGN, March
2005). She also co-edited the collection 'New Localism in Action (NLGN, Feb 2005) and is currently
working on a pamphlet on local government productivity and a piece on city regions.

Prof. Gerald Vinten

Chair London Region, Royal Society of Arts.
He is Principal of the London and Oxford Business School, Holborn, London. As a Chartered Public
Finance Accountant (and a member of Council of the CIPFA), he was involved in the recent Code of
Practice on Governance as well as the role of local and central government and the voluntary
sector. As Deputy Dean at the Southampton Business School he sponsored a report on the
economic impact of higher education. He lives in the City of London and he is an active on a
tenants group. He is on the Council of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health and was its
former Chairman, as well as Past President of the Institute of Internal Auditors. The London Region
of the Royal Society of Arts is involving itself in issues being explored during the conference.

Page3 of 3